Wisconsin Statute 46.90 states that "Elder adult at risk" means any person age 60 or older who has experienced, is currently experiencing, or is at risk of experiencing abuse:

Physical Abuse: means the intentional or reckless inflicition of bodily-harm.

Emotional Abuse: means language or behavior that serves no legitimate purpose and is intended to be intimidating, humiliating, threatening, frightening, or otherwise harrassing, and that does or resonably could intimidate, humiliate, threaten, frighten, or otherwise harrass the individual to whom the conduct or language is directed.

Sexual Abuse: means when a person has been forced, tricked, threatened or otherwise coerced into sexual contact against one's will.

Treatment without Consent: means the administration of medication to an individual who has not provided informed consent, or the performance of psychosurgery, electroconvulsive therapy, or experimental research of an individual who has not provided informed consent, with the knowledge that no lawful authority exists for the administration or performance.

Unreasonable Confinement or Restraint: includes the intentional and unreasonable confinement of an individual in a locked room, involuntary separation of an individual from his or her living area, use on an individual of physical restraining devices, or the provision os unnecessary of excessive medication to an individual, but does not include the use or these methods or devices in entities regulated by the department if the methods or devices are employed in a conformance with state and federal standards governing confinement and restraint.

Financial Exploitation: the misuse of an elder's money or property. It includes deception, diverting income, mismanagement of funds and taking money or posessions against a person's will.

Neglect: "occurs when a caregiver's failure to provide adequate food, shelter, clothing, medical or dental care results in significant danger to the physical or mental health of an older person in his/her care".

Self-Neglect: "a significant danger to an elder person's physical or mental health because the elder person is unable or fails to provide him/herself with adequate food, shelter, clothing, medical or dental care".

How to report elder abuse:To report a suspected case of elder abuse or neglect,

Call The Aging Resource Center of Milwaukee County: (414) 289-6874.

An Information and Assistance Specialist is available to take your calls Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. After hours, on weekends and holidays, calls are routed to 211@IMPACT. our 24 answering service, and forwarded to the Resource Center the next business day.